Nowhere does that show more than in Microsoft embracing Docker. If clouds are the foundation for 21st century IT, then containers will be the bricks. With containers, companies can run far more applications on servers than they ever could on virtual machines (VM). This, in turn, empowers clouds to become even more cost efficient.

Commercially Supported Docker Engine: This is Docker’s tested, validated and supported package of Docker Engine. It will be available to Windows Server 2016 customers at no additional cost. Microsoft and Docker will provide customers with Docker Engine enterprise support.

Companies that will get the most from this marriage of Windows and Docker are the ones that use both Linux and Windows, explained Michael Frills, a Docker product manager. Server 2016 is best “for developers and IT-pros that build and maintain heterogeneous deployments with both Linux and Windows,” he said.

The Docker platform does this by giving developers and system administrators a single set of tools, application programming interfaces (APIs) and image formats for managing both Linux and Windows apps. Frills continued, “As Linux and Windows apps and servers are ‘Dockerized,’ developers and IT-pros can bridge the operating system divide with shared Docker terminology and interfaces for managing and evolving complex microservices deployments both on-premise and in the cloud.”

Microsoft is also making Windows Server 2016 more cloud-friendly not just by adding Docker cloud support, but by adding a version just for Azure: Nano Server. This is a stripped-down, headless version of Server.

There are also improvements to the Recovery Console. This includes separation of inbound and outbound firewall rules as well as the ability to repair configuration of Windows Remote Management (WinRM). In a word, “Sweet!”

Now, I’m a Linux guy myself, but if I were running Windows Server on the cloud, this is a no-brainer update. Windows Server 2016 is Microsoft’s first true cloud-friendly operating system and you should look into updating to it as soon as possible.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, aka sjvn, has been writing about technology and the business of technology since CP/M-80 was the cutting-edge PC operating system; 300bps was a fast Internet connection; WordStar was the state-of-the-art word processor; and we liked it. His work has been published in everything from highly technical publications (IEEE Computer, ACM NetWorker, Byte) to business publications (eWEEK, InformationWeek, ZDNet) to popular technology (Computer Shopper, PC Magazine, PC World) to the mainstream press (Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, BusinessWeek).